SC Ports Signs Off on Study to Deepen North Charleston Terminal to 52 Feet as Volume There Craters 51%
The channel study targets the one Charleston terminal that isn't yet as deep as the rest of the harbor — and the one whose container count just collapsed.
South Carolina Ports Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Charleston District signed a feasibility study agreement on Aug. 28 to evaluate deepening the channel to North Charleston Terminal from its current 48 feet to 52 feet, matching the depth already carried elsewhere in Charleston Harbor.
The study was authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, with $500,000 in federal funding included in the FY26 appropriations, according to SC Ports' own release. Neither the total project cost nor a completion timeline for the three-year study has been set. "Deepening this final stretch makes our port more competitive," SC Ports President and CEO Micah Mallace said in the release.
The timing matters: North Charleston Terminal handled fewer than 35,000 containers through the first half of 2026, a 51% drop from the same period in 2025, according to Post and Courier reporting on SC Ports data. The terminal's shallower channel means a rising share of today's ultra-large container vessels are either too tall or too heavy to call there fully loaded, pushing volume to the harbor's two deeper terminals instead. SC Ports has separately committed $105 million to acquiring the adjacent former WestRock paper mill site, part of a longer-term plan to expand North Charleston's capacity toward 5 million containers a year — an expansion that only makes sense if the channel depth is fixed first.
Charleston Harbor's main shipping channel was deepened to 52 feet in a separate, federally led project completed in 2022, making it the deepest harbor on the U.S. East Coast at the time. North Charleston Terminal, connected via the Cooper River, was left out of that project and has been running at the shallower 48-foot depth since.
What this means for ocean carriers and forwarders
A few things worth flagging for anyone routing East Coast cargo through Charleston:
Nothing changes in the water yet — this is a study, not a dredge. With cost and timeline both still open, carriers and BCOs shouldn't expect North Charleston's draft restrictions to ease for years. Vessel planners calling Charleston should keep routing today's larger tonnage to the harbor's two already-deepened terminals rather than assuming North Charleston capacity frees up soon.
The volume drop is the real near-term story. A 51% year-on-year falloff at one of three Charleston terminals is a meaningful capacity signal on its own — it suggests carriers have already been quietly reallocating North Charleston-bound strings elsewhere in the harbor, which forwarders booking Charleston space should confirm with their carrier before assuming a specific terminal.
The WestRock expansion is the bigger number to watch. A $105 million site acquisition aimed at a 5-million-container annual capacity only pays off if the channel gets deepened, which makes this feasibility study a leading indicator for how seriously SC Ports is committing capital to North Charleston versus concentrating growth at its other terminals.
Seven Stars Content Team
The Seven Stars content team files the daily logistics report from Los Angeles, covering ocean, air, road and customs for shippers and forwarders moving freight through the San Pedro Bay ports and the transpacific lanes.